Earth conditioning implement



March 12, 1940. P. c. BEEKMANN .EARTH CONDITIONING IMPLEMENT Filed Oct. 31, 1958 2 Shee rSheet 1 INVENTOR. E. EEEKMHNN March 12, 1940. h P. c. BEE-KMANN 2,193,506

EARTH CONDITIONING IMPLEMENT Filed Oct. 31, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

I E E- BEEKMHNN Patented Mar. 12, 1940 U l ST 01 Fl E 4 Claims.

The principal object of my invention is to provide an earth conditioning implement that will effectively break up lumps of earth or clods in a field. I 1

A further object of my invention is to provide an earth conditioning implement that makes use of a toothed roller for breaking up clods or the like, that is highly mobile, and which exerts a minimum of pull on the pulling means.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an earth conditioning implement for the breaking up of lumps of earth which will automatically compensate itself for various sizes of clods and which will not be damaged by stones or the like.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an earth conditioning implement having a fully adjustable combing bar that may be ad-' justed to the depth suitable for a particular condition.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an earth conditioning implement that is economical in manufacture, durable'and 'efilcient in use.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, ar-

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of my earth condition ing implement more fully illustrating its construction.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of the earth engaging or combing bar of the device. f

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side sectional view of the combing bar assembly taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3 and more fully illustrating its construction.

Fig. 5 is a rear elevational view of the earth engaging or combing bar suspension assembly of my device.

It is always necessary in conditioning a field for cultivation, that the ground be level and undesirable lumps or clods be broken up. Generally this has been accomplished by dragging a heavy object over the ground. This is an undesirable method inasmuch as the solid object does not effectively break up the clods and furthermore packs the ground. Also these objects require a great deal of power to pull and are considerable (c1. era-40 nate bearing yokesformed adjacent the open ends of the U-shaped frame member IE1. Rotatably journalled in suitable bearings within these yokes Itand M are the rollers I5 and I6, each having thereon a plurality of spikes or lugs H as shown in the drawings. The numeral I3 designates coil springs above and below the bearing members of the rollers l5 and I6 within the bearing yokes I3 and I l, for yieldingly holding the rollers I5 and It in a predetermined position. These two rollers I5 and I6 are assembled rigidly to a shaft I9 to which is rigidly secured a bevel gear as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. I have used the nu meral'ZI to designate a shaft rotatably mounted on the top of the tongue I I and normally having one end in operative engagement with the power take off of the tractor or like. The numeral 22 designates a universal joint imposed in the shaft M. I have used'the numeral '23 to indicate a bevel gear rigidly secured to the other end oi'the shaft 2! and in operative engagement with the bevel gear 28. In practice, the gears 29 and 2! would be enclosed in a housing packed with grease in the ordinary manner. I have used the numeral 24 to designate a spreader or deflector rigidly secured to the frame Ill for spreading the dirt to either'side of theopeningbetween the rollers I5 and I6. The numeral 25 designates a shield extending across the rear and adjacent to the rollers l5 and It for preventing dirt packed up between the spikes II from being thrown'from the device to the rear. I have used the numeral 26 to designate an axle extending through the end portions of'the frame Ill and having rotatably mounted on its extremities, the suspension wheels 21 and 28. The central portion of the shaft 26 extends downwardly in substantially U-shape as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. I have used the numeral 29 to designate an earth engaging or combing bar rotatably mounted on the central portion of the shaft 26 extending forwardly and having the teeth 36 formed along its forward marginal edge as shown in the drawings. The numeral 3| designates cleaning or breaking vanes secured to the earth engaging bar 29. These vanes or plates normally rest between the spikes meral 31 indicates a shaft rotatably mounted along the forward edge of the frame member ID having crank arms 28 and 39 on each of its ends.

- The crank arm 38 is connected to the other end of other arm of the bell crank 35 of the rod 4| as shown in Fig. 2. The numeral 42 designates an arm rigidly secured to the central portion of the shaft 31. I have used the numeral 43 to designate an ordinary hand lever capable of being manually selectively located in various positions. This lever is operatively secured to the crank arm 32 by a rod 44 as shown in the drawings.

The "practical operation of my device is as follows: A tractor or like is connected to the swivel hitch l2 and the shaft 2! is placed in operative engagement with the ordinary power takeoff of the tractor and the device is ready for use. This shaft 25 rotates the bevel gear 23 which is in operative engagement with the gear 20 on the shaft l9. This rotates the drums or rollers l5 and I6 forwardly and downwardly. The hand lever 43 is set so that the combing bar 29 is in such an attitude that the teeth 30 dig into the earth the desired depth. As the device is drawn forward with the drums l5 and i3 rotating, the teeth break up all clods which mightbe pulled onto the combing bar 29 in the manner shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The disintegrated clod or lump of earth is then pulled by the spikes back over the earth engaging bar and deposited onto the ground in a broken form. The cleaning vanes 3| aid in this operation and also clean the spaces between the teeth of any earth left hanging to the teeth or spikes l1. As the entire roller drum assembly is yieldingly suspended in the yoke l3, the rollers can give or yield with the variance of quantity of earth passing between the teeth I? and the bar 29. Also by this arrangement, stones or the like will pass over the combing bar without injury to the de- Vice. The combing bar 29 may be tilted to any desired angle depending upon the condition of the soil and the teeth 30 may be made to bite deeply into the earth when the occasion arises.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an earth conditioning implement which fulfills all of my objects and presents many other obvious advantages. My device compensates for variance in field conditions, is positive in its breaking action, does not require a great deal of power to operate, is fully adjustable, and is self-cleaning. Furthermore, my device leaves the field in excellent condition by uniformly breaking the clods of dirt into evenly dispersed particles and does not merely flatten or embed the clods under the surface of the earth.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my improved earth conditioning implement without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In an earth conditioning element, a frame member designed to be drawn by a source of tractive power, a plurality of roller elements 1'0- tatably mounted on said frame member, spikes on each of said roller elements, a means for rotating each of said roller elements, a combing bar pivotally secured to said frame member and extending forwardly below each of said roller elements, forwardly extending teeth formed in said combing bar, a means for manually pivoting said combing bar, and cleaning vanes secured at intervals along said combing bar.

2. In a device of the class described, a U-shaped frame member, wheels supporting said frame member, rollers rotatably and vertically slidably mounted adjacent the end portions of said U- shaped frame member, a resilient means for holding said rollers in one position of their sliding movement, spikes extending from said rollers, an axle secured to said frame and extending below and to the rear of said rollers, an earth engaging bar pivotally mounted along its rearward marginal edge on said axle, teeth formed on the forward marginal edge of said earth en-' gaging bar extending adjacent said spikes on said rollers, a means for manually pivoting said.

earth engaging bar, and cleaning vanes formed on said earth engaging bar and extending between said spikes on said rollers,

3. In an earth conditioning implement, a U- shaped frame member, a shaft rotatably mounted in said frame member, a means for rotating said shaft, a cylindrical roller element rigidly secured to said shaft, earth engaging lugs on each of said cylindrical elements, a means for rotating said cylindrical roller elements, an adjustable earth engaging bar positioned below said rollers adjacent said lugs, and cleaning vanes formed on said earth engaging bar and extending between said lugs on said cylindrical roller element.

4. In an earth conditioning implement, a frame member designed to be drawn by a source of tractive power, a roller element rotatably mounted on said frame member, spikes on said roller element, a means for rotating said roller element, a combing bar pivotally secured to said frame member and extending forwardly below said roller element and a means for manually pivoting said combing bar at times.

PAUL C. BEEKMANN. 

